JACKSON, Wyo. — During the recent Los Angeles fires that devastated multiple neighborhoods, news sources repeatedly reported on the lack of available water resources. As a community at risk of experiencing a similar-sized fire and water supply challenges, Jackson Hole Fire / EMS confirms that Teton County has alternative resources to mitigate for and combat flames.
A new Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Boundary, that includes all private lands within Teton County, went into effect on Jan. 1. WUI represents the line, area or zone where structures and other human development meet with undeveloped wildland that is considered at risk of a wildfire event.
“It’s one of our biggest community risks that we face.”
Jackson Hole Fire/EMS Assistant Chief of Operations Brian Coe
“Our community is definitely at risk,” Jackson Hole Fire/EMS Assistant Chief of Operations Brian Coe tells Buckrail. “It’s one of our biggest community risks that we face.”
According to Coe, fire hydrants are not available to everyone in Teton County, and in the past even communities with fire hydrants like Indian Paintbrush have lost all use of the hydrants because all the gallons available to that system ran out.
“Even where there are pockets of hydrants, our water system is not up to par to fight a large-scale wildland fire or structure fires,” Coe tells Buckrail. “Where we have hydrants is deficient for the scale and duration of these events.”
But Coe also says that one thing Jackson Hole has that Los Angeles doesn’t is a plan for rural water supply. Jackson Hole Fire / EMS has six different water tenders that each hold 3,000 gallons, and tanks that hold 3,500 gallons; teams can set up a water shuttle operation from a static water source like a creek, pond or pool.
Teams can also do relay operations and set up engines in tandem that pump water from one to the next, which Coe says they practice every year.
Coe also emphasizes that Jackson Hole Fire / EMS and the Teton Conservation District have a wildland protection specialist who can come out to look at homes and do a risk assessment at no cost for homeowners, providing recommendations that aren’t required for the homeowner to do to protect their home structure against fires.
“This is the perfect time to really think about what the wildland risks are and taking the steps as a community to lower those risks,” Coe says. “It’s not going to be something that occurs overnight; it’s ongoing efforts for the next 10 to 15 years where we become a fire-hardened community and ready for that large-scale event.”
Jackson Hole Fire / EMS responds to all the non-incorporated areas of Teton County, responsible for structures on both private land and any of the national forest and including state lands and private lands of Teton County for wildland fires. Coe confirms Jackson Hole Fire / EMS has six structure engines (type 1 engines) and six wildland engines across the county (type 3 and type 6 apparatus), with minimum staffing of seven individuals who are part of a full-time paid staff and 65 volunteers responding to the six different stations.
